A Problematic Rose
by Lacey Barbed Wire
Summary: Regina anonymously leaves a blue rose on Emma's doorstep, not realizing that back in the Enchanted Forest, blue roses were signs of undying love and devotion. Swan Queen ensues.
1. Chapter 1

Emma opened the door to find a blue rose in a plain glass vase waiting for her. Her eyebrows shot up and she bent down to pick it up. There was a note taped to the vase, but it was typed and simply said 'For Emma Swan, From an admirer'. No clues there. Emma lifted the rose to her nose and took a deep sniff. She smiled as the scent washed over her. Emma couldn't smell anything besides regular rose scent, so it probably wasn't dyed. That meant genetically engineered, which wasn't cheap. Though now that she thought about it, this being Storybrooke meant that it could just as easily be magic. Emma shrugged mentally and closed the apartment door behind her. Wherever the blue color had come from it was pretty, and it was a nice gesture, but she needed to get to the Sheriff's Station.

Five minutes later-Regina's house

"Regina?" Kathryn called, walking in the front door.

"In here." Regina replied from the kitchen. Kathryn walked in to find Regina sitting at the island drinking a glass of cider. She blinked. She didn't think she'd ever seen Regina drinking so early in the day. And judging from the half empty bottle, it was one if Regina's exceptionally strong batches.

"What happened?" Kathryn asked carefully, sitting down next to Regina, who took a deep breath.

"This morning I...gave Emma a rose." She said slowly. Kathryn beamed.

"You did? Regina, that's great!" Then she looked at the cider. "Unless Emma rejected you?" Regina shook her head.

"She has no idea I gave it to her. I left it on her doorstep with a typed card that said 'For Emma Swan, From an admirer." Kathryn gave an exasperated sigh.

"Well, that's an improvement from just staring longingly at her I suppose." She said. Regina glared at her.

"I do not stare longingly!"

"No, that's true." Kathryn acknowledged. "You also raid her closet and steal her shirts whenever she leaves Storybrooke for more than a day." Regina muttered something under her breath and took another gulp of cider. "You still haven't said what the problem is."

"The problem is that I gave her a blue rose." Regina said. Kathryn's eyes widened.

"A blue rose? Wow Regina, I didn't realize you were ready to make that strong of a commitment."

"I'm not." Regina sighed, draining her glass.

"You didn't know what it meant, did you?"

"I know what it means in this land." Regina said defensively. "But I was a little busy in the Enchanted Forest, so I didn't learn what different flowers meant."

"What does a blue rose mean in this land?" Kathryn asked curiously as Regina poured herself another drink.

"That the person receiving it is different, beautiful, and rare."

"I can see why you'd give that to Emma." Kathryn said with a smile. "But let me guess-somehow she found out about the Enchanted Forest meaning." Regina nodded and began drinking.

"I went to her office to pick up her budget reports." She said after swallowing. "My plan was to 'notice' the flower, get her talking about it, and then bring up the fact that all flowers have meanings and suggest that she google it as I left."

"Not a bad plan." Kathryn said, nodding.

"Unfortunately, the two idiots got there first and told her about the Enchanted Forest meaning. And considering where everyone in this town is from..."

"She's going to automatically assume that whoever gave her the rose was thinking of the Enchanted Forest meaning." Kathryn finished.

"Exactly." Regina said, draining her glass again. She reached for the bottle again, but Kathryn grabbed it first.

"I think you've had enough." She said gently, putting the glass stopper back in the bottle. Regina opened her mouth to protest but the doorbell rang, cutting her off.

"Go away! I'm taking a sick day!" Regina yelled. Kathryn blinked. Regina never took sick days. She looked at the half empty bottle, then at Regina, and decided that the bottle had probably been opened for the first time today.

"I'll go see who it is." Kathryn said, standing up and taking the cider with her. She walked to the front door and opened it to reveal Snow.

"Is Regina here?" She demanded. Kathryn winced.

"Yes, but now's probably not the best..." Snow ignored her and walked inside. "Time."

Kathryn finished, getting a sinking feeling as she followed Snow into the kitchen.

"A blue rose Regina? Really?" Snow demanded. Regina gave her a startled look, then quickly schooled her features.

"What are you babbling about?"

"I'm talking about you leaving a blue rose on my daughter's doorstep."

"Excuse me?" Regina spluttered. "Why would you think that I..."

"Regina, you have many strong suits, but subtlety's not one of them." Snow said, not unkindly. "At least, not where love is concerned."

"I...I..." Regina stammered, looking panicky.

"Relax, I'm not here to blackmail or threaten you, I just want to know what you were thinking giving her a blue rose?"

"Who else knows?" Regina demanded, ignoring the question.

"Everyone but Emma and David." Snow said frankly.

"Right then." Regina said, snapping her fingers and standing up. The bottle disappeared from Kathryn's hand and reappeared in Regina's, and then Regina disappeared. Snow and Kathryn stared at where Regina had been standing.

"I probably should have seen that coming." Snow admitted. Kathryn sighed.

"She didn't know about the rose." She told Snow. "She just thought that it meant that Emma was different, beautiful, and rare."

"I suppose that does make sense." Snow said with a sigh of her own."

"So, does everyone really know?" Kathryn asked, running a hand through her hair.

"Well, not literally." Snow admitted. "But a lot of people do."

"You're surprisingly calm about this." Kathryn noted. Snow shrugged.

"I've known about Regina's feelings since Neverland." She said. "Regina's really changed since then and I'll admit it, she and Emma are good for each other." Kathryn nodded. That was how she felt too.

"So what do we do now?"

"Now we go talk to Ruby." Snow said with another sigh.


	2. Chapter 2

"Yes! I knew it was Regina!" Ruby crowed when she walked into the Charming's apartment and saw Kathryn sitting on the couch with Snow. "Belle owes me 10 bucks."

"What do you mean?" Snow asked, feigning ignorance.

"Please. You two might not hate each other, but the only reason for you to call me over the day Emma gets a blue rose on her doorstep is that Regina finally grew a pair and acted on her feelings." Snow sighed. She could protest, but what would be the point?

"Yes, it was Regina." Snow admitted. "I tried to talk to her about it, but she just teleported away."

"Are you surprised?" Ruby asked, raising an eyebrow. "I've tried talking to her about Emma, but when it comes to love Regina just runs away."

"Maybe if we got Emma to get a lion tattoo?" Kathryn mused.

"Uh, no. Bad idea." Ruby said quickly. "Even if it weren't for the Marian mess, bad idea. That whole snafu with Robin is half the reason she always runs."

"What do you mean?" Snow asked.

"Think about it. A fairy comes and uses freaking pixie dust, the most powerful magical substance there is, to find her soulmate and what does she get? A married man. For heavens sake, Robin Hood and Maid Marian is one of the most famous love stories out there. There was no way that was going to end well. And before that she had Daniel...which did not end well. Every time Regina loves someone the rug gets yanked out from under her feet." Snow looked at her suspiciously.

"That's way to deep for you." Ruby blushed.

"Belle might have explained it to me." She admitted.

"So...what do we do?" Snow asked. Ruby frowned.

"We need to make it so that Emma, well, we need to get her to admit she feels the same way."

"Does she feel the same way?" Kathryn asked, worried.

"...Yes and no." Ruby said slowly. "Yes, she likes Regina, but I think it's more subconscious than conscious. The attraction's there, I'm just not sure Emma knows she's attracted to Regina in ways beside 'oh, that's a sexy pantsuit' or 'Regina in leather pants!'" Snow blinked.

"Emma's seen one of Regina's 'Evil Queen outfits'?" She asked.

"Two of the more conservative ones." Ruby said with a shrug. Her eyes lit up. "Hey! If we got Regina to walk around in one of her more...revealing gowns I bet Emma would take her on the counter at Granny's!" Snow sighed and Kathryn glared at Ruby's big grin.

"No." Kathryn said shortly.

"Oh come on! I can smell how turned on Emma gets when Regina shows even a little cleavage, and how much Regina loves Emma in skinny jeans and a wife beater. If we get them both turned on at the same time their hormones will impregnate passing by birds." Snow groaned and Kathryn turned to glare at her.

"I believe it was your idea to talk to her about this." Snow rubbed her temples.

"Ruby, first of all, please stop talking about my daughter like that. Second of all, we are trying to get them into a real relationship, not Whale's idea of one."

"Well...we could try a truth serum." Ruby suggested. "I could spike Regina's drink and then..."

"Ruby, stop. Just...stop." Snow said, exasperated. Kathryn stood up.

"Let's go talk to Belle."

"Look, we're talking about getting the two most stubborn people on the planet, if not the whole universe, to admit that they have feelings for each other. As I see it, we have four options. Get them to jump each other and hope it turns into something more, truth serum, lock them in a small isolated cabin together, or hope a new crisis pops up that'll drive them closer together." Ruby argued. Snow looked up at Kathryn.

"She has a point."

"Fine, but we're not spiking anybody's drinks with truth serum." The blonde sighed, sitting down.

"Alright...how are we getting them in a cabin?"

"What about that website Belle was working on?" Snow suggested.

"Singlebrooke?" Ruby asked, struggling to keep a straight face. "I don't think we'll be able to get either of them to sign up. Emma, maybe if Henry signs her up, but Regina? The pun alone will drive her away. And I really don't think Emma's going to look at a woman's profile, she's still two thirds in the closet."

"...What if we got Henry to sign Emma up, and I signed Regina up without telling her..." Kathryn started slowly. "And then we got Belle to set up some way to get them an all expense paid blind date?"

"Why would Regina agree to go on this date?" Snow asked.

"Well if you keep trying to pester her about Emma eventually she'll go on the date just to shut you up." Kathryn said with a shrug.

"So, just to be clear, we're going to irritate Regina into going on a date with Emma?" Ruby asked.

"Essentially."

"Awesome."


	3. Chapter 3

Emma stared at Ruby and Snow. "It's called what?" She demanded, not sure she'd heard right.

"Singlebrooke." Ruby said, smirking as Emma winced at the pun.

"And Belle made it? Not you?"

"Yep."

"And you want me to sign up for it." The other two women nodded. "Why?"

"Sweetie, you've been a little...moody since you broke up with Hook." Snow said slowly.

"I have not!" Emma protested.

"You bought a cat." Ruby pointed out flatly.

"Henry wanted a pet."

"He wanted a dog. You bought a cat."

"Cats are easier to take care of." Emma's arguments were getting weaker and she knew it.

"Sweetie, you're turning into a lonely cat lady." Snow said, gentle but firm. Emma groaned.

"One cat does not make me a lonely cat lady!" Ruby snorted.

"No, but looking to get another one so you can have kittens is a warning sign."

"Kittens are cute..." Ruby and Snow just raised an eyebrow at her. "Fine, I'll make the stupid profile." Snow beamed and walked around the desk so she could see Emma's computer screen.

"Great! Now, here's how you sign up..." Ruby turned her back on them, chuckling, and pulled out her phone.

'Emma's in.' She texted Kathryn. "Your turn."

Twenty four hours later-Regina's home office

"I had no idea Belle had such a fondness for puns." Regina said, wrinkling her nose in distaste. Kathryn sighed.

"Could you please look past the name for a moment?"

"I already have, and my answer is no." Regina said dismissively, looking down and shuffling the papers on her desk. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I really need to finish this so I can start working on dinner. Tonight is the beginning of my week with Henry and I always make lasagna." Kathryn raised an eyebrow. It was also, she knew, the night Emma stayed for dinner which meant Regina would be putting even more effort than normal into the meal to make it as perfect as possible.

"Regina..." Kathryn started.

"I thought I was perfectly clear Kathryn." Regina said flatly, not looking up from the paperwork she was revising. "I do not wish to join a dating website, and I certainly have no need for a man in my life."

"I know..." Kathryn tried again.

"Then why are you still trying to convince me?"

"Because Emma's on the site." Regina stopped, her pen hovering over the paper, and slowly looked up at her friend. "Think about it Regina. The site is completely anonymous, which means that technically you could flirt with her without her ever knowing."

"That's what I thought about the rose." Regina said sourly.

"Technically that didn't blow up in your face. She doesn't know that was you." Regina gave a small nod, acknowledging the point, and opened up her laptop.

"What's the web address again?" She asked. Kathryn smiled.


	4. Chapter 4

Emma was sitting behind her desk, working on some paperwork, when she got a ping from her computer. Surprised, she looked over at the screen. It was a message from that Singlebrooke site she'd signed up for a week earlier. To her minor disappointment, nobody had contacted her on it. (Ruby had gotten Belle to rig it so that nobody but Regina could see Emma's profile, but Emma wasn't to know that) Frankly, she'd mostly forgotten about the website. Curious, Emma clicked on the alert, opening up a window with a message in it.

'Hello, RedKnight.' It read. 'Your profile is certainly...interesting.' Emma raised an eyebrow. That sounded familiar, though she couldn't quite place it. 'You work as a "sort of janitor"? What exactly does that entail? I suppose I should tell you a bit about myself. I am in my late thirties, with a job that frankly causes quite a bit of stress. If you're a "sort of janitor", then I suppose I could be considered an architect of sorts. At any rate, I am a woman if you couldn't tell from my screen name (a friend hacked my account and I can't figure out how to change it at the moment) I do cook and clean, and I find something soothing in tending plants, particularly trees. Like you, I get most of my exercise dashing about, often times when I wasn't planning on running in the first place. I hope I have succeeded in piquing your interest rather than scaring you away. If you're interested in talking, either as potential date material or even merely as friends, please reply at your earliest connivence. If you're not, please have the courtesy to reply quickly anyway so I will not waste any more of your time. Sincerely DoctorMissy.'

Emma leaned back in her chair, surprised. She hadn't expected a reply from another woman. Admittedly she hadn't bothered to say that she was straight, but that was simply because she hadn't thought about it. Now that she was though, it did raise the question of whether she was straight. Obviously she was attracted to men, but that didn't necessarily mean she wasn't attracted to women too. It was just that, for some reason, no women had ever really expressed an interest. Well, Elsa had admired her a few times, but Emma was pretty sure she'd heard the younger woman muttering "Don't cheat on Anna, don't cheat on Anna." under her breath whenever she did so. Frankly, Emma didn't want to know what exactly that meant. Shaking her head, Emma refocused on the message from DoctorMissy. Frankly, Emma was interested. She'd caught herself staring at Ruby before the curse broke a few times, and at Regina...well, a lot of times if she was honest with herself. If it hadn't been for Marian getting put on display by Evil!Regina when she and Hook visited the past, Emma would have had a hard time tearing herself away from watching the older woman because, well, leather pants. Fortunately, her sense of indignation at impending homicide had overruled her perverted side, and tainted the memory of Regina in leather pants enough that Emma didn't catch herself fantasizing about them very often.

But, back to the message. Emma read it again, frowning. The tone and word choice were really familiar, but she just couldn't place it. She shrugged it off, shelving the issue for the moment, then nodded and began typing her positive response. The paperwork could wait.


	5. Chapter 5

Regina looked up from a file as an icon appeared on her computer screen. She raised an eyebrow. It had taken her longer than she would have liked to finally work up the courage to send a message to Emma, and she'd thought that it would take Emma some time to reply as well. Especially since she'd sent the message during business hours. Smirking, Regina opened a new tab on her internet browser and pulled up Emma's email address. 'You're supposed to be doing paperwork right now Emma. Take care of your personal life on your own time.' Regina sent the email, chuckling as she imagined Emma's reaction. Sure enough, the blonde did not disappoint.

'Wha...what? How?! Regina, have you been bugging my office again?' Regina chuckled again.

'Strictly speaking, Sidney was the one who bugged your office. I had nothing to do with that.'

'That's your story huh?'

'And I'm sticking to it.'

'What about that time you gave me a mirror for the sheriff's station?' Regina rolled her eyes.

'That was an honest gift Emma. You've clearly been spending too much time with Elsa. Her high strungedness is rubbing off on you.'

'First off, wow, way to make up words their your majesty.' Regina felt a small shiver as she imagined Emma saying that, and briefly wondered what it would take to get the stubborn blonde to call her Mistress. 'Second of all, Elsa is my chief deputy, I can't very well not spend time with her. And finally, can you blame me for being paranoid after the bathroom incident?' Regina felt her cheeks flush at the memory of that fiasco. It had been not too long after the defeat of the Snow Queen, when they were busy fighting Rose Red. Charming had gotten himself thrown through a window and into an oncoming car. Regina had tried to use a mirror to inform Emma of what had happened. Unfortunately, the only mirror in the other woman's apartment was in the bathroom. She'd appeared in said mirror just in time to see a soaking wet, very naked Emma step out of the shower. It had taken her a good twenty seconds before her brain could resume functioning properly after being ambushed with that vision.

'Well, I'm sorry for informing you that your father was in the ICU.' Regina wrote snippily. 'Now get back to your paperwork. And don't just have Elsa do it, I can tell the difference.' Smirking, she signed off. Now then, time to see what Emma had written.

Author's Notes

Sorry about the late update. Life and Crown Royal got in the way. Stupid ADD.

Also, now that OUAT in Wonderland is dead we need a new OUAT spin off. Show of hands, who wants Once Upon A Frozen Time? Georgina Haig is too awesome at her role as Elsa not to carry on after this season. Make her like Hook! And maybe have her replace Robin as Regina's love interest once he goes back to Marian.

Anyway, thanks for reading! Please review


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